Cancer and Hope

[i]

Joshua 1:9

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁹ Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.”

On Friday afternoon I spoke with my cardiologist. I had looked for my report from Parkview Hospital of my 3 weeks there during the first stage of my West Nile Virus (WNV) treatments. I had gotten them from the hospital on a CD, and I took a copy to him back in June last year. I hoped he might be able to lay his hand on it.

Of course he asked me why I needed it, and I told him I was planning to see an oncologist in Los Angeles about my prostate cancer (PC) growth. The oncologist wanted any lab reports, etc. that I had gotten recently. He asked me what I am doing currently, and I told him I was taking two hormone treatments. I told him that the oncologist in LA had an alternative treatment system that I wanted to investigate.

My cardiologist pointed out how well I am improving and healing from my WNV encounter. He insisted that I am in a lot less dangerous position now with PC than I was under the WNV. He pointed out how well I am currently. He urged me to follow the standard treatments used in medicine today and not to get lulled into some promises of alternative medicine. In his own optimistic way he urged me to “be determined and confident”, and not to “be afraid or discouraged”. He went on to tell me that he would see me in 10 years and then in 15 more years (then I would be 100).

Thank You, Lord, for Your encouragement and Your promise to be with me wherever I go! I am confident that You will do exactly that.

#CALIFORNIA, #SOCAL, #IE, #HEALTH, #CANCER, #PROSTATE, #PROSTATECANCER, #WNV, #WESTNILEVIRUS, #HOPE, #HORMONETREATMENT, #MEDICINE

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[i] https://www.24hrcares.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/this-picture-says-there-is-hope-for-prostate-cancer-because-of-the-blue-ribbon.jpg

All the World to be Taxed

Luke 2:1

King James Version (KJV)

2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

This week congress passed the revised tax law for Americans. President Trump touts this as a great step forward for America in his goal of “making America great again.” He is, of course, totally unwilling to acknowledge that America became great initially when almost no American paid any income tax. He tells us confidently that everybody’s taxes will go down. His opponents point out that the taxes of the middle class will go up and that Social Security and Medicare will go down, giving me a double whammy! Secondly, I had over $2,500 tax wrested from my account a few days ago because I live in house in California. Furthermore, the California legislature is doing everything it possibly can to push that amount up to $10,000 and more.

The Old Testament predicted that our Lord and Savior would be born in Bethlehem. His father and mother, Joseph and Mary, were betrothed to be married and living in Nazareth in a different province of the Roman Empire that was several days’ walk from Bethlehem. Mary was “great with child.” Other Old Testament prophecies indicated that this was indeed the exact time Christ was to be born. 

God in His infinite wisdom knew that both evil angels and people (both Jews and Gentiles) eagerly awaiting this birth. He didn’t dare have the parents either married or living in Bethlehem lest they be destroyed before Christ was even born. So He had the great Augustus Caesar suddenly decide he wanted to know exactly how many subjects he had, who they were, and where they came from.

Only an absolute dictator could demand such from his subjects. He issued a decree that everyone should be taxed, in Greek ἀπογράφεσθαι, which looks to me like it means something like “written down.” Various English Bible translations render this as taxed, enrolled, registered, census taken, and even “names written down in a book[i].” This must have been the greatest data base every assembled in antiquity. Whatever it was, it was instrumental in getting the Joseph and his “espoused wife” to the right city at the right time while many others were also there so that Jesus had to be born in stable. Of course, to the watching universe, Jesus anonymity was shattered that very night by the visit of the shepherds.

Thank You, Lord God, that You are willing and able to “pull strings” to get Your will done even when it means going to the very top of earthly powers. I trust that You are willing to do this even today to prepare the world for Your Second Coming.

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[i] Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE) © 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications

Unshakable Government

[i]

 [ii]

Hebrews 12:28

Good News Translation (GNT)

²⁸ Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe.

This past week Robert Mugabe, the world’s longest ruling dictator of 37 years, was deposed by a carefully orchestrated, bloodless coup d’etat.  Mugabe had emerged the victor in a bloody civil war that rocked the idyllic, prosperous, and peaceful Southern Rhodesia or just Rhodesia. Hundreds of innocent people were killed after the war by simply stepping on land mines that had been planted throughout the country.

Mugabe started a systematic genocide attempt on the Ndebele people who had put up the strongest resistance to his assuming leadership.  He methodically drove the successful white farmers out of the country and gave their farms to his favorite military generals who had no desire or skill to farm. The net result was that when he took office, the country was exporting food to the nations around: after his policies took effect, starvation overtook the country. The international community has had to step in and feed his people.

The pictures above show how he squandered the limited wealth of his country to build himself a mansion that rivals the mansions of European nobility and royalty. As the country ran out of money, he printed vast amounts of paper money until the Zimbabwe dollar became literally worthless.

[iii]

King Ndebele, a boyhood friend of mine, once wrote, “When the British were here, we had freedom but not independence. Now we have independence, but we don’t have freedom.”

As we see the steady erosion of our rights and freedoms in our own country, I appreciate more and more the promise that we will, in God’s own time, receive the “kingdom that cannot be shaken.”

 Let us indeed “be grateful and worship God in a way that will please Him, with reverence and awe.”

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[i] https://i2.wp.com/truthorfictioncom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/zim5.jpg

[ii] https://i0.wp.com/truthorfictioncom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/zim10.jpg

[iii] http://m.wsj.net/video/20150616/061615zimnote/061615zimnote_1280x720.jpg

God Does Speak to Us Directly

Habakkuk 2:2

King James Version (KJV)

² And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

For years I envied Abraham. When he wanted to know something he simply asked God and God answered him. That was simple enough! I wished God would answer me when I desperately needed to know which way to go. As time went by for me, I began to sense that in reality God wasn’t right there at Abraham’s beck and call. We only have record of three or four times when God actually spoke to Abraham. Abraham lived about 180 years, so on the average he received an answer from God about once every 45 years. And, of course, I have an advantage Abraham did not have: the sacred Scriptures that record God’s answers to others.

My wife, Sylvia, and I have been collecting letters we wrote from Africa over the years we were serving as missionaries there. The other day I ran across a letter I wrote on April 30, 1979. It addressed God’s response to an issue we had faced for over a year.

Soon after we married, we committed our lives to be missionaries to Africa. We enjoyed our work and stay in Africa and loved the people we worked with there. The issue at that time involved our furlough home to the U.S. coming due in 1979. Complications had arisen that were demanding our attention but were beyond our ability to solve. We asked the Lord to clearly indicate to us whether we should return to the U.S. permanently or return to Africa for another term. The Lord provided a double response in January that He clearly wanted us to permanently return to the U.S.

Sometimes the Lord has to hit me up the side of my head with a two-by-four to catch my attention. Both Sylvia and I wanted to remain in Africa, so we laid plans to continue to stay there. But this decision weighed very heavily on my mind. It seemed to me that I was ignoring God’s clear word, and I could gain no rest. Matters came to a head on Friday, April 27. That evening His response was as clear as if a voice spoke audibly to me. It said in the tone of absolute authority and gentle reproof, “I already told you!” I sensed I had been proceeding in a path of open rebellion to what God had personally revealed to me.

That is the closest I have ever come to sensing that God was speaking directly to me. I thank the Lord of heaven and earth for stooping to communicate with someone as insignificant as I. The other day as I read that 1979 letter to her, I asked Sylvia how she felt about our decision to return permanently to the U.S. at that time. She agreed with me that it has certainly been the best for us and our family.

Thank You, almighty Lord, Creator of our vast universe, for being sufficiently interested in each one of us to be willing to guide us when we really need You.

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http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/~/media/9b929b827b024a27bf5ec7ca1819f110.ashx?w=480&hash=408B149D5003DD49F949DF2C0E2F5032D03AFD51

WE PLAN--GOD DIRECTS

Proverbs 16:9

 King James Version (KJV)

⁹ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

Sylvia picked an eclipse atlas off of the coffee table the other day. “Are you going to use this again?” Her obsession these days is to throw away, give away, or otherwise dispose of any object I don’t absolutely have to have.

“No, I’ll probably never look at it again. You can put it in the giveaway box.”

We had planned to view the August 21 eclipse this past summer. We wanted to drive north into Idaho where the eclipse would have been very visible. Later we planned to drive with our son Fred into Oregon and view it there. I had bought the atlas to show us where the best viewing was to be.

Earlier we took a trip east to Tennessee to Sylvia’s family reunion. It had lasted the better part of six weeks, and we had seen a lot of friends besides her family. I was still recovering from the West Nile Virus, and by the time I reached home, I was exhausted. A number of the symptoms like bouts of extreme fatigue, balance impairment, and headaches had reared their ugly heads.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a rushed trip north with long drives and little sleep would just not be good for my weakened condition. So I bowed out as gracefully as I could. Instead I organized an eclipse party for our Better Than 50 Club so we could at least see the partial eclipse here.

I am still disappointed that I didn’t get to view the total eclipse, but I realize that it was the best for my health. I don’t want any recurrence of that awful disease.

Thank You, Lord directing my steps in the past. Help me to follow Your directions on a daily basis, too.

Old Age

Titus 2:2

King James Version (KJV)

² The aged men [are to] be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Seventy-five years have gone by since I was ripped out of my mother’s womb. In my youth my parents had a lot to be proud of and a lot to be disappointed over. I have pushed the limits in most things that came my way. In some directions, pushing the limits has been both exciting and rewarding. At other times it has been embarrassing and even on occasion expensive.

I purchased a Ford F150 4x4 pickup that I don’t need on a daily basis in my line of work. It averages 12 miles per gallon of gasoline, which makes it the most expensive vehicle I’ve ever owned.

It has taken me through hundreds of miles of raw desert, both beautiful and ugly. It has brought home a trailer load of my daughter’s belongings from Kansas down a thousand miles of glare ice and falling snow. Numerous times it has taken me across the Rocky Mountains on sand, dirt, and rocky trails sometimes barely visible. I have confidently challenged roads and trails from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It uncomplainingly sports thousands of scratches running from the front grill to the tail gate from desert thorn bushes crowding the tracks.

Sylvia, my faithful life partner, loves adventure as much as I and has supported and accompanied me in our varied experiences. We installed a cap over the pickup bed, and on long trips we put a mattress back there. This allows us to sleep almost anywhere we can find a spot to pull over, including Walmart parking lots. We have slept—or sometimes tried to sleep—in our F-150 during fierce, tornado-alley rainstorms, desert heat, and mountain frost and have actually done very well for ourselves.

In many ways our experience with the F-150 parallels what God has put up with in my life. He has supported me through near death from West Nile Virus and on Los Angeles freeways. He has rejoiced with me in celebrations like children’s weddings and graduations and commiserated with me through loss of many friends and the death of my parents. Like the Ford, He has given us of the beauties and bounties of life and walked with us during poverty, scarcity, and sickness. 

Lord, as old age embraces us ever more firmly, continue to support us, and renew our faith, love, and patience.

#CALIFORNIA, #IE, #FORD, #F-150, #WALMART, #WESTNILEVIRUS, #LOSANGELES, #FREEWAY, #RAINSTORM, #BLACKICE, #TOWING, #SCRATCH, #OFFROAD, #OLDMAN, #WIFE, #INSOMNIA, #ROCKYMOUNTAINS, #CAMPER, #DEATH

When It Seems Everything Goes Wrong!

Psalm 23:4

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁴ Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.

It was four o’clock in the morning. I tossed and turned. My mind started toiling through a long list of recent setbacks.

Our faithful, gas-guzzling pickup had just done a seven thousand mile trip. Now suddenly on the last fill-up, its mileage had dropped to a third of what it had been on the trip. We had double checked the calculations. Google told us this happened to other owners, and they had a terrible time finding out the cause. One had even replaced the engine, to no avail.

Our water main had broken and we had been without water for twenty-four hours. Our neighbors let us take showers in their home, bless their caring hearts. I had spent the whole day repairing it, and now the sprinkler system wouldn’t work. The temperatures were in the hundreds, and the trees and plants were starting to seriously wilt from lack of water.

The Internet and phone company had spent four days doing a “simple” upgrade, and still neither the phone nor the Internet worked. Since our home is up a little valley, even our cell phones don’t work unless the Internet works or we go outside and stand in the middle of the street to make a call. So we were thrust back into the nineteenth century reliance solely on the post office for our communications.

Katie, our beloved one-year-old, still-chewing-everything puppy just chewed up Sylvia’s C-PAP breathing apparatus. The insurance company tells us we can’t get a replacement for at least another month. When I walked Katie in the hills in front of our home, a young coyote was walking shoulder against shoulder with her trying to coax her back to the pack and the kill. Katie wasn’t sure whether she should go with her new “friend” or come back to me.

While we were on our trip mentioned above, our son Fred phoned us to tell us he was engaged to Uni, a lovely girl he has been dating on and off for a number of years. Then he phoned us to tell us they are getting married later this month. They plan to meet in Oregon and see the August eclipse and invited Sylvia and me to go with them. I am eager to see the eclipse and even more eager to be with Fred on the trip. But I’m also still recovering from my battle with West Nile Virus. I seemed to lose some ground on our 7,000 mile trip in which we took everything very easy, so I fear a rush trip of 2,000 miles may set me back even more.

A smiling doggy face and furniture-beating tail greets me as I roll out of bed at six o’clock. I happen to read our familiar and much beloved Shepherd Psalm. I reread verse 4, and peace covers over my many concerns. My Lord is still with me.

Thank You, Lord, that I can rely on You to solve my problems as You have so frequently in the past!